Businesses: New CRM system exsalerates growth

Companies on both sides of the Tasman are extolling the
virtues of a locally developed, cloud-based CRM system which
they say is helping grow their businesses.

Exsalerate
is a cloud-based CRM system developed and marketed by
Auckland-based Urgent Couriers and has been in market for
just over two years. Urgent Couriers Managing Director Steve
Bonnici developed the tool when he couldn’t find a CRM
system that was simple, effective and affordable to meet the
needs of his own courier business.

With little
marketing behind it, exsalerate has attracted a steady
stream of sign ups around New Zealand, across the Tasman as
well as in the US and Canada and now has a total of
approximately 65 companies using the product.

Exsalerate is an approved Xero add-on. Since attaining
this status in late May exsalerate has seen a steady flow of
new sign ups in all corners of the world, from a coffee
distribution company in Myanmar to a courier company in
Dublin. The Xero integration allows companies to import
client information at the click of a button, set up a
nightly transfer of sales data and & to push leads into Xero
when they are converted to customers.

Companies can
set up exsalerate themselves by following the on-line video
tutorials, or the exsalerate team can provide very cost
effective set up packages, starting at just $200.

This
country’s largest user, NZCU South, is already reaping the
benefits after only four months of using the system.

The Dunedin based credit union with 80 staff spread
across 10 South Island branches took on exsalerate to help
with member retention. Marketing and Communications Manager
Jonet Warhurst says exsalerate is not only helping NZCU
South retain members but also grow their personal lending
business.

“We looked at a lot of CRM systems to find
the right one. Many of our staff had not used CRM before so
we needed something that was easy to use to get staff buy
in.

“Exsalerate customised the system to our needs
and because the system was easy to use staff bought in from
the outset and continue to use it all the time.”

Exsalerate drives regular phone contact between NZCU
South and its members who appreciate hearing from the
company without having to visit branches.

At the other
end of the experience scale, former Chase Distribution
National Sales manager Mark O’Connell is a 25 year veteran
of using CRM systems and is sold on exsalerate.

“I’ve used CRM tools since 1989 and most of them have
become horrendously expensive and irrelevant. They have too
many features hanging off them which are not used,” he
says.

He describes exsalerate as a “comprehensive
bare bones product” which has delivered a significant
increase in productivity for the exhaust and emissions
component importing and distribution business.

“At
Chase Distribution our reps’ call rate increased 20 per
cent throughout the country and sales are up 30 to 35 per
cent in Auckland and Christchurch since we started using
exsalerate.

Australian-based Naked Energy was
attracted to exsalerate by its simplicity and value for
money.

Spokesman Steve Halis says his company, which
is in the business of renewable energy solutions, mainly
solar power generation, looked at more than a dozen CRM
systems and they were all either too complex or too
expensive.

“Exsalerate delivers a very solid tool at
a fantastic price. It has all the right functions, no
feature overload and intuitive interface. All staff were
comfortable with it within a couple of days.

Mr Halis
says exsalerate has quickly transformed his business
operations by making it easy for Naked Energy to co-ordinate
all customer related activities and providing visibility of
those activities to everyone in real time.

Urgent
Couriers Managing Director Steve Bonnici says the feedback
from current users reflects exactly what he set out to
achieve.

“I was continually frustrated by the
complexity, inflexibility and cost associated with the
systems available. So I decided to build my own. It is
designed to be a sales person’s best friend and they need
to do little more than record their activities,” he
says.

Mr Bonnici said he decided from the outset to
build a cloud-based system with the view to making it
available to other companies from just $30 per month for the
first 5 users. It also means customers enjoy the benefits of
a regularly updated system.

The result is a sales
tracking tool that allows staff to easily track their sales
activities, manage sales teams’ pipelines and schedule
appointments and follow-ups, for a fraction of the cost of
regular CRM systems. The low monthly cost means any staff
member who has any client contact can record the activities
against the client to ensure a full record of client
interaction.

Features include the ability to capture
leads from a company’s website, manage sales teams’
pipelines, set and measure performance against targets, set
up regular call cycles, interface with Outlook and more. A
mobile interface is available for smart phones and it is
tablet friendly.

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